at midnight moscow time israel says it's pressing ahead with plans to build six thousand more sattler homes in the west bank and east jerusalem following the palestinians un upgrade. time magazine chooses us president barack obama is trying to twelve person of the year meeting is a gyptian counterpart on apple's c.e.o. . and lawmakers in moscow give preliminary approval to banning americans from adopting russian children it's in response to washington so-called mixed sanctioning russian officials.

alone a very good evening for me kevin owen here at the new center tonight israel says it will continue with plans to develop six thousand more satellite homes in the west bank and east jerusalem despite international condemnation the settlement expansion seen as illegal under international law follows the palestinians upgrade of the un is artie's policy from tel aviv. israeli officials say that they're pressing on with plans to build six thousand new settler homes this defies criticism from western power was the fear that the move will hunton waiting and hope for a peace deal between israelis and palestinians here remember that it was just last month off to be produced separate recognition of palestinian for earnestly at the united nations that israel made with your announcement confirmed the statement

building it said that it will be found for him and in the occupied west bank as well as in east jerusalem and at that time there was international and quiet the point needs to be made and that is well continues to build in i said defiance of international law and as well as of united nations resolutions so many critics are pointing out that is also assertiveness with settlements is part of the reason why it's becoming increasingly isolated by it's a spouse partner primarily in europe but that's not to say that washington is also not losing patience the united states has said that it is disappointed by israeli construction plans in an unpredictably sharp reaction the obama administration has talked with others well saying that the construction plan one counter to keep the point also needs to be made that mixed month generally is already holding parliamentary elections which is why many also just think that these anonymous by the prime minister netanyahu are

a means of trying to garner up domestic support as well as change the reality on the ground one of the options that mr neosho and like minded people. creating a world by the amount of. satisfy you want this is this you from. let us get to the roads and let the settlers. are the place to stay rather than evacuate them to new areas which will be next to israel most of the international community see the settlement construction by television as illegal certainly the palestinians see it as a real obstacle to creating a viable capital in east jerusalem course the r.t. tell of a. us president barack obama has for the second time been chosen by time magazine's person of the year he beat seven other shortlisted contenders including his

egyptian counterpart mohammed morsi also pakistani women's rights activists and apple c.e.o. tim cook north korea's kim jong on kim jong un get it right where are they want to lead their readers online poll the most influential people didn't even get to the editors shortlist so is it weird decision or not let's go live to our washington correspondent dan it's you can go hi there at time magazine they are putting president obama top for the second time. that's right kevin this tuesday president obama emerged on the cover of the time magazine as the person of the year that magazine called him. the same ball and in some ways. the architect of the new america of their choosing him as the person of the year or second time in a row first time the they gave the president the award right after the two thousand and eight election as to someone who had the most influence on global affairs although at that time he hadn't had the time to exercise all that influence but then president obama also received the nobel peace prize in two thousand and nine

shortly after the election although again at that point he hadn't made much peace in the world the award was seen as more of an advance credit than an acknowledgment of actually achievements on that on the peace front later president obama went on to spend credit sending more troops to afghanistan and carrying out regime change in libya under the arguable banner war for the sake of peace as far as his person of the year title this year critics argue president obama was time's choice by default there shortlist this year included the egyptian leader mohamed morsi and the pakistani girl malala yousafzai who was shot by the taliban for advocating for women's education but interesting times had a poll on their website the new leader of north korea kim jong il emerged on top of that list with five point six million votes supporting that choice time called the poll unscientific and suggest that that it could have been the reader's way of

poking fun at this whole person of the year thing but the magazine insists that that at the end of the day it's their editors who decide who should be the person of the year. to make it clear. a lot of focus on president obama at the moment in the wake of those awful shootings we need to what's going to be done about gun control if anything we've heard what obama is going to say but of course the question is can he deliver on this what he says because he said it before what is going to happen now with regard. to the american is or isn't going to change. well kevin president obama had a news conference this tuesday where he was asked about he was asked why no meaningful action has been taken on gun control in the last four years of his presidency although one of his campaign pledges was a ban on assault weapons he basically said he had lots of other things to do including waging two wars and quote it's not like i've been on vacation those in

the us who suffered in numerous incidents of gone violence would probably not be satisfied with such an answer but the president pledged to finally take more active steps in the coming months he says the administration will come up with a more definitive proposal on gun control but people have heard those words before and nothing happened getting a semiautomatic weapon is not a problem in the u.s. adam lanza who killed twenty small children and six was also at an elementary school last week fired from a semi-automatic bushmaster rifle and it's a military style rifle powerful weapon and his sales are on the rise in the u.s. in the last four years the market was such guns grew thirty percent president obama may be the person of the year for the time magazine but for advocates of gun control in the u.s. he still has to earn that title. in washington d.c. thank you very much. well we'll start with the title of the zone cullum opens got

some comment on the he's not desist from the international action center he says it's no surprise to anyone above has got the prize this time around again. i'm a certainly i guess of every other president that served two terms as has been at alabama just like any other president should should get it but many people are very frustrated with the concessions in the united states right now and many are very upset and that with the level of home foreclosures the level of mass unemployment certainly not a more perfect union time magazine as the voice of time warner one of the biggest media conglomerates in the united states that really just speaks for the banks and wall street and as far as they're concerned obama has done very good job of carrying out the policies that the super rich would like to see so as far as the concerned absolutely but in terms of creating a more perfect union a u.s. society is very very unstable and an stratified right now i just recently there's a war on labor unions in michigan there was this anti labor law that was just passed and even around the world you know obama carried out you know the

destruction of libya and he's now looking at the stabilizing overthrow the syrian government so i i i absolutely don't think a more perfect union has been created but i can understand why time would want to give him an award for that because that's that's you know the u.n. is carrying out the policies that that that they would like. moping speed to even though they are on russia's state duma has given its preliminary approval to a ban on americans adopting russian children as part of a draft law cygnus a response to the so-called magnitsky act a list of russians on the sanctions but washington the biliteral both support and criticism from will make his head causing a rift in the russian political elite is a physical piskun off reporting. it's really not clear at the moment if this draft in its current form will indeed become an acting the law because this issue really has split russia's political elite we have heard from several ministers including the foreign minister who spoke against introducing it prime minister dmitry medvedev hasn't openly supported it but he did talk about the need to focus on

improving the living conditions for children without parents here in russia but the president's spokesman has also said that the evident and the russian rhetoric coming from some members of the international community the emotions of the deputies and some of them are showing quite a hard line approach these emotions are understood in the kremlin but at the same time the spokesman said that the qur'an winds approach to this will be more reserved just a reminder sort of the monies he was a russian lawyer who worked for foreign investment funds he claimed to have revealed a huge money laundering scheme allegedly involving russian officials he himself was suspected of large scale tax evasion but died in prison before a court could make a decision on his skis magnitsky seen by many in the west or especially in the united states as a victim of various human rights violations and just recently american lawmakers

passed the so-called magnitsky act which gives way for sanctioning russian officials suspected of being connected to violations of human rights but since it's not clear on what grounds this blacklist is going to be put together and we know that some of its ports are going to be classified here in moscow this act is seen as a derogatory and the russian law and russian lawmakers have been working on what they say will be a proportionate reply adoption really has been a huge stumbling block in the relations between moscow and washington due to these so many cases of abuse and sometimes even drafts of russian children after they were adopted by americans and brought to the united states for instance the story of twenty one month old. who died after his adoptive father.

one of the skull so that the walls of the ecuadorian embassy in london for six months but he's been keeping busy nonetheless quite out with us what is christmas message could be about shortly. russia's soyuz rocket blast off into orbit from the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan with a crew of three our border cameras are there to see it go we track its progress to right after this break.

driving the dogs. coming from as far away as a strength in canada and the us they come to russia and everybody is so very friendly they welcomed me with open arms and the scenery is so beautiful it's very much like alaska and so i felt at home the first sled dog was brought here from australia now it's trios come to this remote russian village to take part in the race it's not surprising they love it this trail are amazing but even more amazing is the story of how racing first started here at all it wasn't the tamasha sled dog racing who set the trail ablaze but a nun and for all friends who brought their idea to life five years ago mother pressed care of a bill to dog kennel in the village kids from the local open age came around to take care of the dogs and one day they state their lives might seem extreme to some

the boys wake up at six to feed the dogs before school in the evening they spend up to three hours training their four legged friends but smother her scare also encourages her kids to. internet the boys regularly updates their website and they're in touch with the busy maga twenty four seven on the phone. but children are the most important thing my own interests not play any rule any more and regardless of whether part of schemas huskies window race or not she hopes the competition will take place in the village next year. but called these dogs and the children it really is not the winning book surely just the taking part that counts .

choose your language. call it week over though if you're going to kill some of. the concentric. to the opinions the great. truths the storms could impact life. access to. science technology innovation all the lives developments from around russia we've

got the future covered. hello again welcome back kevin irwin here at r.t. tonight despite having been holed up in the ecuadorian embassy in london for six months julian assange has not been idle and he hasn't let up on his wiki leaks work and he's even published a book too on thursday the whistleblower is set to announce his plans for twenty thirteen as he prepares to deliver a christmas address firth report. it's been six months to the day since julian a son's thought refuge behind the doors of the ecuadorian embassy it was a bid to avoid extradition to sweden where he's wanted for sexual assault allegations that he continues to refuse to travel to sweden because if it will be extradited to the u.s. america investigating the wiki leaks website for publishing documents including dossiers on the wars in iraq and afghanistan now despite having twenty four hour

round the clock police protection it's been a busy six months that julian assange we've had him publish a book we seen concerns over his health we seem to live in a sound addressing world leaders as well as giving a number of personal exclusive into the sea and of course we've had the ongoing protests and vigils in support of both julian assange and the wiki leaks website and in the next couple of days judy the sun is expected to give a christmas address normally the territory of mourning but in this case julian assange will be summing up his own going predicament and outlining his plans for the year ahead now what is set to come remains relatively unknown we see in the dramas unfolding over the last six months so you can be pretty sure it will be unpredictable it's a lot of rumors a lot of talk at the moment that we could see in twenty thirty kill innocent running for the australian stan it and forming his own wiki leaks political party

well those will be the next steps and of course r.t. is going to be there every step of the way taking you through this ongoing story. but there are supposed wiki leaks spokes person christine has from solutions the whistle blowing web site of its founder still being hunted bother us. i will bring it out a bit later we've got a problem with when will the catch up with him what christian to say in about an hour's time now an independent panel concluded its investigation into the tempest deadly attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi recovering well i can tell you it claims systematic failures of the state department were behind the security breaches findings but by so great state hillary clinton want to find out more about that on line r.t. dot com right now also telling its french actor gerard depardieu could be moving to russia saying that the country's president with him approaching a sense of russian asked for decided to renounce his citizenship in search of a better financial future.

talking of which spain looking towards its future has warned it has got the legal power to stop catalonia of molding a referendum on its independence the deputy prime minister spoke just hours before the regions process british parliamentary majority signed an agreement calling for a public vote on self-determination to be held in twenty fourteen. campaign of european regional independence of loney is ready to go it alone. it does come from that i'm a nation of civil society from or from the citizens of course i don't know which from two thousand and nine to two thousand and eleven show date it's a nation by out so organizing a popular referendum for the whole principality of catalonia like more than five hundred fifty why they voted yes because i don't get that allowed for a party it's a scenario and allowed to tap debates about south of the nation thanks human rights universal rights in order to those rights also allows us to explain to people about

economical and about all the benefits that i like that but that's only a they would be difficult so these are scenarios just created a verbalized had all been majority for in depth and that this has been showing in the last resort polls and actually elsewhere in the last elections was now in the parliament a fact lonia we do have a majority of members of the parliament which are for indefinite then and they are willing to call for these referendum supporters of russian football champions it isn't petersburg so they only want white non-gay players in their squad most shocking less of the club's management scum as russia of course is gearing up to host the biggest international football tournament on the planet the twenty eighteen world cup the team's largest from club stress that their demands are about respecting longstanding tradition says they put it in not about discrimination of which of em porfiry takes an in-depth look at this provocative development. i don't

want any african players black players or latin american players and to be honest i don't but it's an absolute joke i mean fans i think forget probably best player was born in venezuela which is latin america danny is probably the best rush limbaugh has come into play in the russian premier league over the last ten years or so and france is a bear manifesto was correct. it was to be submitted. but this player i mean they also say that they want to give preference to homegrown players russian based players often every team in the world would want to do that because it would be much cheaper but the fact is. russia don't produce enough good players i mean even brazil even top mentions like argentina but you have to import players it's common knowledge and mentioned real madrid they don't have players from just around mantra story madrid import players because this is way before paul has grown and has developed i think the problem is a group of around one hundred two hundred hard calls elites and pittsburgh fans who

are racist and you get this around the world you'll get this in the u.k. you get this in italy you'll get this in germany you just can't change them for education for whatever they will say the same the problem is you have a few thousand teenagers who go on to the matches and they don't know what they're doing so they copy what these. races fans are doing and what the club needs to do is try to educate the teenagers. the clubs the russian premier league the russian football union they need to get special players involved because teenagers will look up to these players and trying it's and the racism campaigns going. the latest cruise blasted off from the baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan a russian flight engineers about three members on board with the team gearing up for a busy five months in space they're hoping anyway they set to carry out more than one hundred scientific experiments even go in a couple of space walks to things. was there to witness the takeoff. here at a bitterly cold baikonur cosmodrome in kazakhstan we're counting down to the launch

of the soyuz rocket which will take three men after on their stint to the international space station chris hadfield thomas marshburn andrew man roman inco are the three crew who have been preparing for this moment for four years now and throughout their careers they're going to be up there for months a lot of hard work to do letters stand back and watch the culmination of all the efforts go into this launch. the crew now face months of work up on the international space station thomas marshburn himself is a trained doctor and he'll be conducting many experiments among them examining the effects of weightlessness on the human body we've also experiments up there looking at medical technology on on the i assess and

a number of space walks to help conduct maintenance on that orbital space station it's been a difficult to years for the russian space agency there have been a number of accidents with various spacecraft in the past couple of years including a supply rocket that fell back to earth and a mission to examine one of the martian moons that never got further than earth's atmosphere there have been changes at the top levels of management of ross cosmos and they'll be some organizational changes to try and improve their records and must be said none none of those errors happening with manned missions all of those . including this one having gone well without any any hitches but these three three crew on the way up to the international space station they'll be docking there in a couple of days' time and there they will start their stint representing humanity and their countries on the international space station we'll keep you posted how

they get on the business now it's twenty four minutes past midnight moscow time attaches here. an ongoing debate for any given economy is it best to have a strong or a weak currency old debate about exports and stuff how to start with russia in the ruble well see it really depends on the structure of the economy with china it's obvious that it's better to have a weaker currency because it's export oriented go with russia it's a bit more complicated but i'll bring you all the details in the business bulletin after a short break. more

news today violence has once again flared up. these are the images your world has been seeing from the streets of canada. the giant corporations rule today. you know how sometimes you see a story and it seems so for langley you think you understand it and then you glimpse something else and you hear or see some other part of it and realized everything you thought you knew you don't know i'm tom harvey welcome to the big picture.

russia would be soo much brighter if you mean about songs from fines to christians . whose fun starts on t.v. don't come.

on. hello you're watching business r.t. welcome to the program the currency markets are seeing

a lot of volatility lately with the euro reaching a fresh seven month high to the dollar on wednesday it seems that investors have a high appetite for risk thanks to u.s. lawmakers edging closer to the deal that will help them avert the so-called fiscal cliff but meanwhile the russian ruble has also been pretty volatile over the past weeks and now experts disagreeing on where it will actually end the year let's see what mitchell method ankle actually thinks of this so where do you think it's going to end up by the end of december if you want a definite answer in terms of movement i would say it will be stronger to both the dollar and the euro because there are so many factors pointing to this mainly at the end of the year the central bank really wants to maintain inflation where it well within certain limits like six and a half percent if you look at this graphic over here you see that the past month the ruble has already been strengthening to the dollar for example by well almost a ruble from voting once a.